Assad flees to Russia; chemical weapons in Syria a 'top-tier priority': Updates
Syrian rebels seized Damascus on Sunday, and long-time President Bashar Assad fled the battle-scarred country amid the stunning collapse of his regime after 13 years of war.
Assad and his family arrived in Russia, granted asylum "on humanitarian grounds," Russian news agencies reported on Sunday, citing a Kremlin source. Rebel forces led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, an Islamist movement that was once an al-Qaeda affiliate, declared in a statement on state-owned TV that Syria was "free from the tyrant" Assad.
The rebel coalition said it was working to complete the transfer of power to a transitional governing body with executive powers to rule the ancient nation of more than 23 million people.
"The great Syrian revolution has moved from the stage of struggle to overthrow the Assad regime to the struggle to build a Syria together that befits the sacrifices of its people," it added in a statement.
President Joe Biden was monitoring the events in Syria, the White House said. President-elect Donald Trump said the U.S. should not get involved.
Biden on Sunday also said his administration is still trying to return Austin Tice to his family, bringing home the former U.S. Marine missing in Syria since 2012. His parents in a statement said they are "eagerly anticipating seeing Austin walk free."
Assad's ouster brings to a close nearly 25 years of his tight-grip rule, liberating Syria from a dynasty that has brutally controlled the country for a half-century and injecting fresh turmoil into a Middle East region already spilling over with warfare and political uncertainty.
Assad's downfall also marks the latest development in one of the deadliest civil wars of the 21st century. The war began amid the 2011 "Arab Spring" pro-democracy protests that quickly led to the fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi.
Assad, aided by his brutal tactics and Russian support, held on until now.
"I can't believe I'm living this moment," Damascus resident Amer Batha told AFP. "We've been waiting a long time for this day. We are starting a new history for Syria."
Biden addresses Austin Tice, an American missing in Syria since 2012
The collapse of Assad's regime is being watched closely by the family of Austin Tice, an American journalist who has been missing in Syria for more than a decade. His mother, Debra, said last week she was confident her son was alive, citing information she said came from a "significant source," without elaborating.
Biden, speaking Sunday, said his administration remains committed to returning Tice to his family.
"We think we can get him back, but we have no direct evidence of that," Biden said.
Tice, now 43, is a former U.S. Marine who was working as a freelance journalist in Syria ahead of his final year at Georgetown Law School when he vanished in 2012. He has not been heard from since.
A video released a month after he disappeared shows him blindfolded and trembling as he's led up a hillside by armed men.
“Oh, Jesus," Tice says in the video. “Oh, Jesus."
In a statement on Sunday, Tice's parents, Marc and Debra Tice, said: "We are eagerly anticipating seeing Austin walk free. We are asking anyone who can do so to please assist Austin so he can safely return home to his family."
A senior U.S. government official pointed out the $1 million reward that was put out by the FBI in 2022, recognizing the 10th anniversary of his kidnapping.
“The United States Government is offering a reward of up to $1 million for information leading directly to the safe location, recovery, and return of Austin Bennett Tice,” according to the FBI's website.
Official: Chemical weapons in Syria a 'top-tier priority'
After rebel forces toppled Assad's government and seized control of Damascus, caring for the country’s stock of chemical weapons has become a "top-tier priority" for the U.S., a senior administration official told reporters during a National Security Council call on Sunday.
The efforts include working with other partner countries in the region, as well as other Syrian groups as they work through the transition. But there are no plans to deploy the U.S. military to help with the task, according to the official.
Assad's regime repeatedly used chemical weapons against the rebels and his people during the civil war, according to human rights monitors, and U.S. officials. Syria says it has destroyed its stocks, but if the munitions remain it is unclear who will gain control over them.
At a U.N. Security Council briefing Thursday on Syria's claim, U.N. disarmament chief Izumi Nakamitsu said Syria's assertion could not be fully verified. Nakamitusu cited 19 "unresolved issues" in the country’s declaration.
“I reiterate that this is extremely worrying,” Nakamitsu said.
75 targets hit in US strike on Syria against ISIS
With Biden's authorization, a strike on a “significant gathering” of ISIS fighters was launched Sunday which hit 75 targets. The strike also dropped 140 munitions on the site, a senior administration official said during a National Security Council call on Sunday with reporters
The official did not offer precise details of the targets saying an assessment of the strike had been completed yet.
ISIS has been trying to reconstitute in a broad area known as the Badiya Desert in Syria, according to the official.
“We have worked to make sure they cannot do that. And so, when they try to gather, when they try to train, and we see it, which we do, we take them out,” he said.
There happened to be a “fairly broad gathering” and the president made a decision to launch a strike, the official said.
Biden: U.S. forces launched precision strikes in Syria targeting ISIS
Biden said Sunday that the fall of Damascus has heralded a period of “risk and uncertainty,” and that the U.S. will work with its partners and the stakeholders to “seize an opportunity” and manage the risk. He said the Islamic State − ISIS − might try to take advantage of the political chaos to create a haven for terrorists.
“We will not let that happen," Biden said. He said U.S. forces on Sunday conducted a dozen precision strikes within Syria, targeting ISIS camps and ISIS operatives.
The U.S. will engage with all Syrian groups, including within the process led by the United Nations, to establish a transition to an independent and sovereign Syria, he said.
U.S. to maintain presence in eastern Syria
U.S. National Security Council Spokesperson Sean Savett said Biden was "closely monitoring the extraordinary events in Syria and staying in constant touch with regional partners."
Daniel Shapiro, deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East, said Sunday that the U.S. will take measures necessary to prevent a resurgence of ISIS, which had gained a foothold in Syria before essentially being driven out by U.S. and coalition forces in 2019.
Shapiro said the U.S. plans to maintain its presence in eastern Syria, and he called on all parties to protect civilians, particularly minorities, and to respect international norms.
“We remain focused on ensuring that ISIS cannot regroup and pose a threat again, either regionally or globally,” Shapiro said.
Syrian prime minister offers olive branch to rebels
Unverified footage published on social media appeared to show residents of Damascus and other cities pouring onto the streets, dancing and chanting, "Assad is gone." Rebels said they would swiftly free political prisoners.
Syrian Prime Minister Mohammad Ghazi al-Jalali said he wants Syria to be a "normal country that builds good relations with its neighbors and the world." He said he wouldn't flee, wants to peacefully transfer power, and is willing to work with any new leadership chosen by the people.
"I am in my home, I did not leave it because I belong to this country," he said.
Trump says US should stay out of Syrian chaos
Trump said in a post on X and his social media platform that the U.S. should have nothing to do with the war in Syria.
"THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT," he wrote. "LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED." Trump later followed that post up by saying Assad had fled Syria because Russia was no longer willing to protect him. Russia, he said "lost all interest because of (its war in) Ukraine."
"Assad is gone," he wrote.
What's happening in Syria?
Hours earlier, rebels announced they had gained full control of the key city of Homs after only a day of fighting.
The fall of Homs came after a new Syrian rebel offensive that started about 10 days ago. It gave insurgents control over Syria's strategic heartland and a key highway crossroads, severing Damascus from a coastal region that's key to the power of Assad's Alawite sect. The Alawites are a Muslim minority group who have ruled Syria for decades.
Homs is also where Assad's Russian allies, who enabled him to stay in power during a 13-year-old civil war that has killed an estimated 300,000 civilians, have a naval base and air base. Russia provided Assad's government with vital air cover. Assad was also propped up by Iranian-backed militants including Hezbollah fighters.
But analysts say that Assad was effectively left to fend for himself because Russia was distracted by its war in Ukraine and Lebanon-based Hezbollah has been under intense pressure from an Oct. 7-related conflict with Israel.
What do we know about Bashar Assad?
Assad inherited Syria's leadership from his father Hafez, a powerful military dictator who leaned heavily on the nation's feared security services to crush dissent and suppress all challenges to his rule.
When the younger, Western-educated Assad, who studied to be a dentist, took over from his father in 2000 there were hopes Syria might chart a new reformist course for its citizens and ties with the international community.
Those hopes faded fast.
What began as a series of hopeful pro-democracy protests in Syria in 2011 ballooned into a devastating and intractable conflict that contributed to one of the most severe refugee crises since World War II.
Assad regime punctuated by violence, torture
Syria's war has led to hundreds of thousands of deaths, displaced millions, and helped spur the rise – then entrenchment, then toppling – of the Islamic State terrorist group.
According to the United Nations, humanitarian groups, and Syria watchdogs, Assad's violence has taken many forms: imposing starvation sieges on rebel-held areas; repeatedly bombing, with Russian assistance, hospitals, and civilian infrastructure; arresting and torturing thousands of activists, bloggers, and civilians, then holding them at secret prisons deep underground, where they languish without trial.
He has also allegedly used chlorine bombs and sarin gas — chemical weapons — against opposition fighters, killing children and civilians.
Assad's downfall: What happens next in Syria?
Assad's toppling raises hard-to-answer questions about what comes next for Syria. Early reports indicated Assad fled to Russia. Moscow has been known to give shelter to exiled authoritarians and dictators. The two countries have a bond shaped by their opposition to the West during the Cold War and nurtured by Moscow's more recent attempt to have a more assertive foreign policy on the world stage.
Geir Pederson, the United Nations special envoy to Syria, called it a "watershed moment."
"To those displaced, this moment renews the vision of returning to homes once lost," he said in a statement. "To families separated by war, the beginnings of reunions bring hope. To those unjustly detained, and the families of the detained and the missing, the opening of prison doors reminds us of justice’s eventual reach."
Mohammed Albasha, founder of Basha Report, a Virginia-based consultancy specializing in Middle East affairs, said the critical question for Syria is how effectively the rebels can establish control and manage the transition of power.
"Will Syria follow the path of Libya, descending into prolonged chaos? While many questions linger about the nation's future, one thing seems certain: today likely marks the end of the Assad regime."
Contributing: Reuters